Conor Callinan

The World Indoor Tour cracks into life this weekend as the first Gold meeting of the season takes place in Boston. Four Irish athletes will compete there, as well as others in Silver, Bronze and Challenger meetings across the globe.

It’s another busy weekend of US college meetings, there’s a very strong entry for the guest races at the first round of the National Indoor League. And some athletes will take to the roads.

Friday Night Lights

European U23 1500m bronze medallist Eimear Maher looked in great form when she came home second on the opening leg of the mixed relay at the European Cross Country Championships in December. She will race the 1500m at Meeting Internacional Catalunya de Pista Coberta (World Indoor Tour Challenger) in Sabadell this evening. The Auto Q for the World indoors is 4:06.00, while the Athletics Ireland B standard is 4:09.75.

Long Jumper Lauren Callaghan will continue her season at World Indoor Tour Bronze Meeting de Nantes Metropole, a meeting that is being streamed live on the European Athletics YouTube channel.

Super Saturday

Among the star-studded fields gathered for weekend’s main event - the New Balance Grand Prix - are Andrew Coscoran, Brian Fay, Nick Griggs (3000m) and Cian McPhillips (600m).

Coscoran broke the Irish record when winning this event last year. Brian Fay arrives in Massachusetts two weeks after finishing 16th at the World Cross Country Championships. This will be Nick Griggs’s first competitive outing since romping to the European U23 Cross Country title in December, and his first indoor race since his epic battle with Cathal Doyle at the NIA almost two years ago.

In addition to having their eye on the win, and the bragging rights, some of the numbers these three may have in mind are 7:33.00 (World Indoor Auto Q), 7:41.00 (Athletics Ireland B standard for Poland), 7:30.75 (Coscoran’s National Indoor Record) and 7:30.36 (Mark Carroll’s outright Irish record). Grigg’s national U23 record is 7.45.57.

There are just two spots in each event for each federation at the World Indoors – unless an athlete can unlock a wild card by winning the World Indoor Tour in the event. Either way, competition for the spots will be fierce.

In his first track race since finishing fourth in the 800m in Tokyo, Cian McPhillips will face Donovan Brazier and Bryce Hoppel over three laps of the track. The Irish Indoor 600m record, which Mark English set in what was essentially a solo run at the NIA 10 days ago, may well receive further revision.

English himself has the opportunity to further alter the national indoor 800m record he set in Luxembourg on Sunday when he races at the Meeting Indoor de Lyon, also on Saturday. Also lining up at this World Indoor Tour Bronze meeting will be Bori Akinola (60m) and Jodie McCann (1500m).

Laura Nicholson, who has been training in Australia, will be racing over the mile at the World Continental Tour Bronze Pak'nSave Cooks International Classic in Whanganui, New Zealand on Saturday (7:50am Irish time).

The first round of the National Indoor League takes place in the NIA on Saturday and there is a big entry in the Open races. Max O'Reilly, Paul Costelloe and Michael Farrelly are among the 60m entries and Molly Scott is down for the 60m and 60m Hurdles. Declared athletes on the National League entries include Marcus Lawler (200m), Adam Nolan and Arabella Adekoya (60m Hurdles), and Conor Callinan and Matthew Callinan Keenan (Pole Vault), though they could change by tomorrow.

Something for Sunday

Sarah Lavin will open her indoor campaign at the World Indoor Tour Silver Meeting de Paris, where she will face French Indoor Champion Laeticia Bapte and Olympic finalist Alaysha Johnson (USA), among others. The first target for Lavin will be the 8.02 World Indoor standard.

Lucy Holmes, Niamh Carr and Philip Marron are all due to race over 2000m at Meeting Moniz Pereira (World Indoor Tour Challenger) in Portugal.

The AXA Raheny 5, one of only two World Athletics Label Road Races in Ireland, will also take place on Sunday. Ryan Creech, Cathal O'Reilly and Ann-Marie McGlynn are among the sold-out entries for the event.

US college action other US meetings (across Friday and Saturday)

Diarmuid O’Connor carries a 13-point cushion over his national record-breaking day one performance into Friday’s day two of the heptathlon at the Penn Elite Multi-Events in Philadelphia.

European Cross Country team gold medallists Callum Morgan and Lughaidh Mallon will race over 3000m at the Bruce Lehane Scarlet & White Invitational at Boston University on Saturday where Irish Indoor 1500m champion Kevin McGrath will take on the Mile. Finn Diver (Mile), Conall Rogers (800m), Claire Crowley (800m, 3000m) and Una Brice (Pole Vault) are also entered.

After her Northern Irish record-breaking 7.25 (60m) last weekend, Lauren Roy is entered for both the 60m and the 200m at the Stan Scott Invite in Lubbock. Lucy-May Sleeman is entered for the 60 at Orange & Purple Invitational in Clemson, where Nicole Dinan is on the 800m startlist.

Elizabeth Ndudi (Long Jump) will open her season at the Fighting Illini Challenge in Champaign. Sean Aigboboh (200m, 60m), Victoria Amiadamen (400m) and Finn O'Neill (60m Hurdles, Shot Put) are due to compete at the Ted Nelson Invitational in College Station.

Ava O’Connor, Louis O’Loughlin, Oisín Lynch and Claragh Keane are all on the mile startlists for the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Invitational at altitude in Albuquerque. Oisín Ó Gailín is also due to take on the altitude, for him over 3000m at the Colorado Invite in Boulder.

Charlie O'Donovan (mile) and Jack Fenlon (3000m) are due to compete at Penn Elite in Philadelphia. Finn Boyle (800m), Seán Cronin (800m), Sean Lawton (5000m) and Muireann Duffy (5000m) are entered for the Dr. Sander Invitational in New York.

Others due to compete for their colleges on Saturday and/or Sunday include Heather Murphy (3000m, Hokie Invitational), Cian Crampton (Weight Throw, Crossroads of America Invitational), Lucas Fadden (200m, Larry Wieczorek Invitational), Danny Hagen (60m Hurdles, 200m, LSU Bayou Bengal), Alexandra Joyce (Mile, Mark Colligan Memorial), and both Ashleigh McArdle (High Jump, 60m Hurdles, Long Jump) and Roisin Treacy (Mile) at the Notre Dame Invitational.

And finally…

In addition to the senior athletes mentioned above, Emily Bolton, Eimear Cooney, Sophia Thompson, Lorcan Forde Dunne and Liam Morris will compete in the Junior mile events at the New Balance Grand Prix in Boston on Saturday.

A small number of other athletes, including Oisin Murray, Jennifer O'Leary, Lorraine O'Connor (all 1500m) and Diarmuid Fagan (3000m), will compete at the BMC meeting in Cardiff on Sunday.

The National Senior Championships will get August started, and the Diamond League final will draw it to a close. The European U20 Championships will take place in Tampere (Finland) from 7th to 10th, and athletes not yet guaranteed their spot in Tokyo will be making a last-ditch effort to pick up ranking points and achieve standards before the close of the qualification window later this month.

National Championships

The Irish Senior National Championships will be held in Santry stadium on 2nd and 3rd August. Irish titles are always highly coveted, and some exciting racing is guaranteed. We’ve highlighted elsewhere some of the events and athletes to look out for.

Both days of the National Championships will be shown live on the Athletics Ireland Youtube channel. The 100m, 400m, 800m and 1500m track finals will be shown live on RTÉ 2 from 5:00-7:30pm on Sunday evening.

Diamond Leagues

While the season may feel like it’s drawing to a close, there are still regular-season Diamond League events in Silesia (16th August), Lausanne (20th August) and Brussels (22nd August), as well as the final in Zurich on 27th and 28th of August.

Startlists are not yet available for any of these events, but we know that Sarah Healy has already done enough to qualify for the final in the 1500m and that she will race both that and the Silesia meeting. She has had an outstanding year already, and has picked up four top-three finishes in the earlier meetings this season.

Diamond League events are shown on Virgin Media.

European U20 Championships

A very strong Irish team will head to Tampere in the coming days for the European U20 Championships. Conor Kelly and the men’s 4x400m relay team, both at the top of the 2025 European U20 rankings, are among those with medal aspirations.

Sean Doggett (400m) and Cormac Dixon (3000m, 5000m) and others will be looking for top 8 finishes. Ireland have qualified teams in all four relays, ensuring that many athletes will be exposed to competition at this level for the first time.

All sessions of the championship will be shown live and on demand on Eurovision Sport.

Continental Tour Meetings

The penultimate Continental Tour gold of the 2025 season, the Gyulai István Memorial/Hungarian Athletics Grand Prix will take place in Budapest on 12th August. Among the world starts announced to date are Femke Bol, Mondo Duplantis and Miltiádis Tentóglou. While it’s not yet known if any Irish athletes will be joining them, this promises to be one of the best meetings of the year. Continental Tour Gold meetings tend to be shown on the World Athletics streaming platform.

The Continental Tour silver meetings in Banská Bystrica (Slovakia) on 8th August and Bern (Switzerland) on 16th August, will offer final opportunities for athletes to boost their Road to Tokyo rankings before the end of the qualification window. We’ll update these meetings with Irish athletes if and when any are named on the startlists.

IFAM Oordegem (Belgium) on 9th August (Continental Tour Bronze) promises to be a busy one for Irish athletes, and may be a last-chance opportunity for some to make the team for Tokyo. Nick Griggs, Darragh McElhinney, Efrem Gidey, Jack O’Leary, Cormac Dalton and Roisin Flanagan are all entered for 5000m. Shane Bracken and Seán Donoghue are listed for the 1500m, while Cian McPhillips, Emma Moore and Alex O’Neill are all down for the 800m. Athletes entered for the 400m include Jack Raftery, Cillín Greene, Chris O’Donnell, Cliodhna Manning, Arlene Crossan and Kelly McGrory.

The final BMC Grand Prix (Continental Tour Challenger) will be held at Trafford on 9th August and is likely to feature Irish athletes.

Among the current entries for the Continental Tour Challenger Meeting voor Mon in Belgium on 16 August are Chris O’Donnell (200m, 400m), Lauren Cadden (400m), and Nick Griggs and Shanee Bracken (1500m).

Other events

Irish athletes will be looking for fast times, big jumps and long throws, and to make the most of late-season form, at a number of meetings in the UK over the coming weeks. With the qualification window now open for next summer’s European Championships in Birmingham, there’s still much to play for.

Indeed, entries for the Northern Ireland and Ulster Senior (open) Championships include a number of athletes who’ll be looking to make the Northern Ireland team for Birmingham. Kate O’Connor and Anna McCauley have both already secured the consideration standard in the heptathlon. O’Connor is entered for the 200m and 100m hurdles while McCauley is due to compete in the long jump and 100m hurdles.

Other notable entries include Sean Aigboboh (100m), Callum Baird (100m, 200m), Orla Comerford (100m, 200m), Sarah Leahy (100m), Rachel McCann (200m), Lauren Callaghan (Long Jump), John Kelly (Shot Put) and Anna Gavigan (Discus Throw).

The Stratford Speed meetings have been a happy hunting ground for Irish athletes in search of fast times, and it was at the August edition of last year’s series that Israel Olatunde set the national 100m record. Early entries for that event this year (17 August) include Olatunde, along with Michael Farrelly, Sean Aigboboh, Molly Scott, Ciara Neville and Sarah Leahy.

Ireland’s top pole vaulters this season – Conor Callinan and Clodagh Walsh – are both among the Irish entries for the Vault Manchester Summer Series meeting on 6th August.

A number of Irish athletes broke personal bests at the British Milers Club Record Breakers meeting at Tooting Bec last year, and some may return for mid-week action there on 20th August.

Two big half marathons towards the end of the month will herald the start of the autumn road racing season. The Antrim Coast Half Marathon in Larne on 24th August is attracting some of the biggest global names in endurance running with Greffory Kamworor and Joshua Cheptegei among those expected to start. Less than a week later, the National Half Marathon Championships will take place in Tullamore. Both races should feature strong domestic fields.

Before then, Peter Lynch, Barry Keane & Fearghal Curtin, three of Ireland's top road runners, are due to compete at the Beach to Beacon 10km in Cape Elizabeth (USA) on Saturday 2nd August.

Another significant week of athletics lies ahead. The U23 athletes will have the opportunity to win European medals in Bergen, while some of the seniors will be in action at the London Diamond League.

Closer to home, the AAI Games and National 10,000m and Multi-Event Championships will be held in Carlow. A number of athletes will also be in action in Continental Tour events in Spain, Belgium and Germany.

European U23 Championships

Nicola Tuthill (Hammer) and Nick Griggs (5000m) will lead the medal hopes of a strong Irish team at the European U23 Championships which will run from Thursday 17th to Sunday 20th July.

Medals, however, won’t come easy, and with some of the world’s top eligible athletes due to compete, this could be one of the greatest editions of the biannual event to date.

Among the entries in the men’s 5000m, for example, are Olympic 1500m finalist Niels Laros (NED), European U23 Cross Country Champion Will Barnicoat (GBR), World U20 3000m Champion Andreas Fjeld Halvorsen (NOR) and the 2021 European U20 5000m champion Joel Ibler Lilleso and Jonathan Grahn (SWE) who beat Griggs to the European U20 3000m title in 2023.

Tuthill is ranked third in the field on personal best and one of just three athletes to have thrown beyond 70 metres. She will look to utilise the championships experience she gained in Rome and Paris last year to turn her fourth place finish in 2023 to a place on the podium this time around.

Other Irish athletes to watch out for include Ava O’Connor, ranked fourth on time in the women’s steeplechase, Abdel Laadjel who will be desperate to improve on his 4th place from 2023, Eimear Maher in the 1500m, and Anika Thompson who is highly ranked in both the 5000m and 10,000m.

The event will be streamed on EuroVision Sport across all sessions, including dedicated streams for field events.

London Diamond League

The London Diamond League always tends to be the busiest for Irish athletes, and this year is no different, with three individual athletes and a relay team on the startlist.

Mark English is set to race in a star-studded men’s 800m; a race that includes 3 of the top 4 from last year’s Olympic final, and 6 of the 20 fastest 800m athletes of all time.

Sarah Healy is set to compete in the rarely-run women’s mile. She’ll be up against Jessica Hull and Gudaf Tsegay, among others. The Irish record stands at 4:14.58 (Ciara Mageean, 2023).

Rhasidat Adeleke is on the 200m startlist, alongside her training partners Olympic 100m champion Julien Alfred and 2019 World 200m champion Dina Asher-Smith.

The women’s 4x100m relay team will compete in the pre-programme against teams from Great Britian, Australia, Canada, France and Jamaica.

The event will be broadcast Virgin Media Two from 2-4pm on Saturday. The relay will, unfortunately, fall outside the broadcast window.

Domestic action

The AAI Games incorporating the National 10,000m Championships and the National Combined Event Championships will be held at SETU Carlow on Saturday and Sunday, while the Irish Runner National 10 mile Championships will be held at the Phoenix Park on Sunday.

While many of the big track stars are missing from the AAI Games, some in-form field eventers and a pair of Paralympians are among the entries.

Conor Cusack, who earlier this week set a new Javelin PB of 75.18 in Luzern (3rd Irish all-time) will look to continue his recent form. Conor Callinan (pole vault) has set PBs in each of his last three competitions.

Reece Ademola, just back to competition after injury is among the long jump entries; multi national title holder Saragh Buggy in on the triple jump startlist, and we should expect to see Seán Mockler in the hammer.

Orla Comerford (100m, 200m) and Greta Streimikyte (1500m) are also entered, as are Colin Doyle (100m, 200m), Michael Farrelly (100m) and Cliodhna Manning (400m)

It is expected that Athletics Ireland will provide a livestream across the two days.

Continental Tour meetings

Ciarán Carthy, Hugo Magee and Orla Leer (all 400m) are on the startlist for Meeting International d'Athlétisme de la Province de Liège (CT bronze) tonight (Wednesday) in Belgium.

Marcus Lawler (100m, 200m) and Israel Olatunde (100m) are entered for PUMA Fast Arms Fast Legs (CT Challenger) in Wetzlar, Germany on Friday.

Sophie Becker (400m), Jenna Bromell (800m) and Eric Favors (Shot Put) will all be looking to pick up valuable world ranking points at Meeting Madrid on Saturday (CT Silver).

Rachel McCann (400m), Alex O'Neill (800m), Jodie McCann, Seán Donoghue (1500m),Brian Fay and Darragh McElhinney (5000m) are on the main programme startlist for KBC Nacht van de Atletiek (CT Bronze) in Heusden-Zolder on Saturday. Cillín Greene, Cliodhna Manning, Arlene Crossan (400m), Amy O'Donoghue, Kevin McGrath (1500m), David McGlynn (5000m) and Amy O'Donoghue (1500m), among others, are on the pre- and after-programme startlists for the same meeting.

Ronan McMahon-Staggs is on the startlist for the 1500m at Meeting Maia Cidade do Desporto, while Charlie O'Donovan will race the same distance at Stumptown Twilight in the US.

As soon as we get through all the above, we're straight into the FISU World University Games, where nine Irish athletes will be competing.